Cabbage, garlic, rosemary, sage and thyme – just some of the kitchen herbs and vegetables that promote health. English photo By Roberta Bailey As farmers, gardeners and overly busy people, we barely make time to feed ourselves well, let alone truly nourish and support our bodies. Our lives are a constant juggle of making time,
Eastern Prince schisandra berries shown by Aaron Parker of Falmouth in the Common Ground Country Fair Exhibition Hall. English photo By Roberta Bailey A few years ago, a friend was helping my husband and me erect a high tunnel on our farm. After a lunch break, he pulled out a little tincture bottle and said, “This is
Oats. English photo By Joyce White Plants known as herbs have been a part of healing the body, mind and spirit for most of known human history. Cultures have differed, stresses have differed, but the use of plants for healing as well as for food has remained constant through time. The brain, it was previously
You can start hundreds of native plants in a small area to create your own nursery. Heather McCargo photo By Heather McCargo The traditional nursery industry has been following an ecologically destructive trajectory similar to the path of conventional agriculture. Most plants are mass produced using an arsenal of synthetic chemicals; many varieties are
Aronia melanocarpa ‘Viking.’ English photo. By Roberta Bailey New England is rich in plant medicine, and learning that our medicine cabinet just expanded is exciting. Have you heard about the new super fruit? It appears to be better than all the others that have been touted in the last decade. And the best part is
Basil downy mildew on the upper surface of a leaf. Photo by Eric Sideman. And on the lower leaf surface. Photo by Eric Sideman. By Eric Sideman, Ph.D. This winter I have been lecturing at organic growers’ meetings about new and emerging insects and diseases. I don’t know if the weather, the climate or some
Cut dandelion greens before the plants flower. English photo. By Chris Knapp There is something intrinsically wonderful about wild food. Over the years my wife and I have shared wild plants with countless people. Folks bend down to the earth, pick a plant and put it in their mouths. Aha! An essential truth about our
Toki Oshima drawing By Beedy Parker I’ve been making a list of the edible greens that come early in the vegetable garden, as weeds and bonus vegetable greens. Here’s how it goes: Dandelion greens are the earliest, just the rosette out of the soft beds – and you might want to break off the root
By Deb Soule Ginkgo biloba is thought to be the oldest living genus of seed plants on our planet and is the only member of the genus Ginkgo. Its family is Ginkgoaceae. Botanists who study the evolution of plants through their fossil remains have found that ginkgo has remained unchanged for the past 150 million
Common St. Johnswort, Hypericum perforatum (right), is a useful medicinal herb that is easy to grow in the garden. Illustration from Field Book of American Wild Flowers by F. Schuyler Mathews, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, N.Y., 1902. By Deb Soule Common St. Johnswort (Hypericum perforatum) is native to Europe and has naturalized in fields and along roadsides throughout
